Up-to-the-minute advice, information, resources, and, on occasion, commentary on federal and New Jersey state income taxes, and the various New Jersey property tax rebate programs, and insights and observations on tax policy and professional tax practice, by 40-year veteran tax professional Robert D Flach.

Friday, December 6, 2013

WHAT’S THE BUZZ, TELL ME WHAT’S A HAPPENNIN’

A meaty BUZZ today!

* Have you seen the December “issue” of THE LAKE REGION SOMETHING yet?If not, why
not.If you have, please tell your
family and friends about it.

* Jason Dinesen keeps us up to date on the
tax consequences of same-sex married couples after the death of DOMA at DINESEN
TAX TIMES.His latest post on the
subject, “Same-Sex Marriage, IRAs and After-Tax Basis”, deals with an issue
that had not occurred to me.

Another negative affect, for the taxpayer,
of the requirement that same-sex couples legally married in a state that
permits such marriages must file as married filing joint or separate is the
fact that the deduction for IRA contributions may be reduced.On the other hand, it opens up the possible
availability of a deductible spousal IRA.

Thanks and a tip ‘o the hat to Jason for
continuing to report on this topic via his “Life After DOMA” series.

* Deborah L. Jacobs year-end tax post “12 Smart Money Moves To Make Before The End of 2013” at FORBES.COM contains the
usual advice, which I have provided earlier this year at MainStreet.com.However it does include two items that I have
not mentioned and that needs repeating –

“4.
Take required distributions from your own IRA.”

And -

“5.
Take required distributions from an inherited IRA.”

It is very important that, if you are
required to take a Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) for 2013, you actually
take the RMD before the end of the year to avoid a substantial penalty.

“Taxpayers
age 70½ and older can directly transfer up to $100,000 tax-free from an IRA
account to a charity. This charitable transfer can be used to satisfy your
required minimum distribution for the tax year.”

* In “Shopping for Tax Extenders" at the
TAX ANALYSTS BLOG Clint Stretch observes – “Like
children asking if Santa is coming, taxpayers want to know whether expiring tax
provisions will be extended by the end of the year.”

Clint goes on to list “Five factors suggest that the answer is almost certainly no”.

“Two
individuals borrowed money from the mother of one of them. A mortgage was
prepared to secure the debt, but it was not recorded in the public records.”

The deduction was denied because -

“Code
Section 163(h) prohibits an interest deduction for personal interest, but provides
an exception for qualified residence interest.The statute requires that to be qualified residence interest, the debt
must be ‘secured by the residence’.”

And –

“Treas.
Regs. § 1.163-10T(o)(1), which requires that a mortgage be “recorded, where
permitted, or is otherwise perfected in accordance with applicable State law.”

If you are getting a home mortgage from a
family member be sure to officially record the mortgage with the county!

* An older post from Jim Blankenship
(discovered via a tweet) at GETTING YOUR FINANCIAL DUCKS IN A ROW about “Boosting Your Social Security Benefit” answers a question often asked of me.

My first reaction was “absolutely
nothing!”.But I was wrong.The idiots did actually pass some
legislation.According to the piece (the
highlight is mine) –

“Congress'
numbers are bad on all fronts. In addition to the most recent Gallup poll that
put public approval of Capitol Hill at just 9 percent, Congress is poised to
pass the fewest number of laws in 66
years.

As the last month
of the year begins, Congress has passed fewer
than 60 new laws since January.”

One of the bills they did pass was “To specify the size of the precious-metal
blanks that will be used in the production of the National Baseball Hall of
Fame commemorative coins."

This show was not a “remake” or even an
“update” of the original iconic Raymond Burr series. As I had mentioned in my “Ramblings” item in
the “issue” of THE LAKE REGION SOMETHING, “except
for the title and the disability, this new ‘Ironside’ has absolutely nothing
whatsoever to do with the original show”. It was a totally different, and certainly
inferior, program.

The reason for the existence of this new
“Ironside” was the success of the new “Hawaii Five-0”, also a totally different
program from the original.The new HF0,
however, again as I said in TLRS “is a
good show that could stand alone without reference to the classic.The main attraction is the interactions of
the close-knit “team”, especially Alex O'Loughlin’s Steve McGarrett and Scott
Caan’s Danny Williams.”

The new “Ironside” was an average,
uninteresting police procedural with an uninteresting cast that did not have
any real charisma or chemistry.It’s
only selling points were the title and Blair Underwood.

The original “Ironside” currently appears
mornings at 11AM on the MeTV (Memorable Entertainment Television) nostalgia
cable station.It is followed on MeTV by
the original “Hawaii Five-0”, and preceded by Burr’s equally iconic (perhaps
more so) “Perry Mason”.An unsuccessful
“The New Perry Mason” with Monte Markham, true to the original series, appeared
on tv for one season in the mid-1970s.

Let us hope that the failure of the new “Ironside”
puts an end to unnecessary “re-imaginings” of classic 60s and 70s tv shows.

1 comment:

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